The previous post contains a short biography of Captain David W. Ketchum, Assistant Commissary of the 51st North Carolina. The unexplained gap in his service record between 1863 and the end of the war became a problem for his widow 25 years after his death. This is the story of Sarah Ketchum’s three-year wait to draw a widow’s pension.
After David’s death in 1903, Sarah lived with her only surviving son, David C. Ketchum. David C. died in 1927, leaving Sarah and her daughter-in-law (Lilla) impoverished. Sarah turned to family friend and attorney D. L. Henderson for help with applying for a Confederate widow’s pension.
Henderson gathered the required affidavits establishing David W. and Sarah’s marital status and residency. Through Georgia Senator Walter George, he requested and received David W. Ketchum’s Confederate service record from the Army’s Adjutant General’s Office. On July 29, 1929, Sarah submitted the affidavits, service record, and a pension application to the Dooly County Ordinary, who approved the application and forwarded it to the Georgia Commissioner of Pensions.
After a month, the Commissioner of Pensions requested more information about Ketchum’s service. Specifically, he wanted proof that Ketchum had served honorably until the end of the war. He requested a discharge certificate and an affidavit stating the details of Ketchum’s service after July 1863 (the last month of service shown in his service record).
D. L. Henderson tried in vain to get more information about Ketchum’s service in the Confederate Army. Finally, in November, he sent two affidavits to the Commissioner of Pensions. One stated that all of Ketchum’s personal papers were lost in a house fire in 1914. In the other affidavit, Sarah swore that her husband did not come home until the end of the war, and he was never charged with being absent.
On December 17, 1929, the Commissioner of Pensions wrote to Henderson and told him he could not approve Sarah’s pension application without solid evidence of Ketchum’s service after 1863 and his discharge from the army. “So much complaint has been made that persons are on the pension roll who have no right to be there…the Pension Office has to be careful in regard to approving applications for pensions,” wrote the Commissioner.
Sarah Ketchum’s pension application languished unapproved for the next three years. Then, in November 1832, William Henderson became Georgia’s new Commissioner of Pensions. Luckily for Sarah, William Henderson was the cousin of D. L. Henderson. D. L. wasted no time writing to his cousin and urging him to review and approve Sarah’s application. “In her old age she is in the mercies of the world,” wrote D. L. to his cousin. On November 29, 1932, “Cousin William” approved Sarah’s application, entitling her to receive $30 per month for the rest of her life.
Sarah died on August 13, 1934. At the time of her death, Sarah was penniless. As a destitute pensioner, the state was responsible for her death and funeral expenses. A month after Sarah died, Lilla Ketchum submitted an invoice to the Dooly County Ordinary.
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